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Wednesday, May 27, 2015

SMOKE AND MIRRORS

I have never been a huge fan of magic. A realist to my core, the tricks to fool my eye always have an explanation. I have seen perhaps a handful of tricks that defied explanation, and even then I turned my nose up--knowing the truth would prove once again someone was just trying to fool me. The slight of hand, smoke and mirrors are all tools of the magician in his practice of deceit. Entertainment for some, but I prefer a song and dance.

Life is filled with smoke and mirrors. Make up is a great example. We women-me included--put on our make up in an effort to look better to those who might glance upon our faces. I have laughingly called it my war paint and my disguise, but suffice it to say--it is all smoke and mirrors. Enhancing the best features and detracting from the worst, we spend untold money and time working on fooling the world. Why you can even buy water proof and permanent make up-so others will never see what lies beneath. We become experts at "looking natural" while we are actually disguising the natural when donning our mask.Writing has its own bag of tricks to fool you into thinking I am someone I really am not. Those closest to me, with a couple of exceptions, very rarely comment upon my musing. Why the truth of the matter is that I have family members who do not even read my opining. They really know me---have seen the real me--so perhaps they have read a couple of times and laughed--since they see beyond the smoke and mirrors. Knowing all my faults, all my short comings, and the truth of who I am perhaps discredits what I say. I write what I would like to be--who I wish I was, but the sad truth is many times it is filled with disguises and exaggerations. The smoke and mirrors behind the pen are just as deceptive as the magician's box of tools.Why, you might ask, do we go to all this trouble when the truth would serve us better? One of the realities I forget so easily is the best received posts are the most truthful posts. When I leave off the make up, put away the smoke and mirrors, and reveal the real me, the readers clap. Most of the time, I get responses of "Someone is like me" or "Someone understands". How easily I forget and fall back into the trap of thinking I am fooling you into believing I am someone I am not. Even when I fail to admit it, you know the truth. My secret life is really no secret--my warts and blemishes are impossible to hide forever.Thankfully, there is One who understands. I stand naked before Him and He knows me better than I know myself. No need to even attempt the smoke and mirror act, He knows all the tricks and never falls for my lame attempts at disguising the truth. Yet He loves me still, when I run from the truth, He still loves me. There is hope--at the final curtain--when all the smoke has dissipated and the mirrors are all removed--He will love me exactly as I am.

For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

7 comments:

---I do not have family that read my blog, Lulu. After the nonsense on Facebook (my account is permantely shut down, self imposed), they have no idea I have a blog, nor will they. Various reasons....as for "war paint" one does not need to see me without it, scary thought, LOL. I know you were making references and I am being funny.:)

"Why, you might ask, do we go to all this trouble when the truth would serve us better? One of the realities I forget so easily is the best received posts are the most truthful posts. When I leave off the make up, put away the smoke and mirrors, and reveal the real me, the readers clap. Most of the time, I get responses of "Someone is like me" or "Someone understands". How easily I forget and fall back into the trap of thinking I am fooling you into believing I am someone I am not. Even when I fail to admit it, you know the truth. My secret life is really no secret--my warts and blemishes are impossible to hide forever."---how very true. Thank you Lulu for your candor.

Years ago we stayed at an old castle/hotel in the depth of Scotland. It was rimoured that the room we were in and the hearby corridors were haunted by the ghost of a vicious Scottish warrior. We saw nothing that night we were there. No doubt the ghost saw the "war paint" on my wife's face and got scared to death.

You're right Lulu. We all hide behind various masks of sorts to conceal our true identity. Except me of course. I am as honest as the next man, or if I happen to be next to a woman, I am as honest as the man standing just by her. Which is me!

Love the honesty here, Loralu. As I was trying to be diagnosed with my autoimmune illness,it went on for several years. There were so many things hitting me all at once and there were so many times I felt like a freak because of the various ways it manifested. It seemed that God was stripping me down to nothing. I was raw. Add this to moving into a new city and trying to make friends - it was so hard. I wrote about it a bit. No sense hiding who you are. In my humble opinion, people either like you for who you are, or they aren't worth the time to get to know just yet. God's still working on their heart.